Today we’d like to introduce you to Amy Logan.
Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
I’ve always been a writer. I’ve been writing poetry since I was thirteen years old. I realized that writing was a great way to get out of my own head, which even at thirteen, could be a dark place. I loved everything Dr. Seuss, and anything that rhymed. It was in high school when I realized that my dream job would be to write children’s books. I loved the whimsy, the creativeness, the silliness… However, how do you get yourself published successfully when you don’t have any connections? I mean, I’m from Illinois. That’s what I used to think. How wrong I was. Looking back, my story – just like your story – was being written for years, only I (we) didn’t know it at the time.
I grew up in Lockport, Illinois. I went to school for speech pathology, didn’t quite get into the grad program for that (you know, college parties and all), met the guy who would soon become my husband, ended up going back to school to earn my Master’s Degree in Teaching, got married, had a couple of kids… life was good.
And, I was happy being a stay at home mom (the idea of going back to teaching and putting two kids in daycare really didn’t work for us). However, to help pay the bills (did you know that life can get more expensive with kids? True story.) since we were down a salary, I started with a Direct Sales company selling jewelry. Not only did it allow me to make a great income on my time schedule, but I really did have a blast doing it.
For a while.
However, something was off.
I started feeling myself spiral down, deep down, into a depression, which is something I’d dealt with for years but had kept it at bay for a long time. Yet, truth be told, it gets harder and harder to hold things down when the pressure starts building up. I started to feel more and more like I was wearing a mask every single day, trying to pretend I was someone who I wasn’t, and feeling like “certainly, I was meant for more than this. This can’t be it. What am I even doing?” I mean, there were more questions, but you get the jist of it.
And then I started writing again.
I started getting those dark feelings out of my head and onto the blank sheets of paper in front of me. And the papers started filling up. And I kept writing. And it was powerful – seeing the ink, the feelings – hit the paper and stick. And the more I wrote, the more powerful it became. I was writing about the way I was feeling – good, bad, ugly. And I was reading those words. And I was feeling again. It was cathartic. It was cleansing.
And then, seemingly all of a sudden, my poem, A Girl with A Cape, was born. I remember the exact way I felt after that poem came out. Because it was my story. Not just my words, but my personal story. And I cried. I mean I bawled and cried the ugliest cry you’ve ever seen. And I remember saying, “THIS needs to be a book. THIS needs to be in the hands of every child, every adult because I’m sure there are thousands if not millions of people out there who, just like me, have felt less than even if only for a second and have questioned their worth. This was their story, too. And I knew it.
And right at that moment, I was on my way back up.
Please tell us about your art.
My artwork is the written word. I love the way words – simple black and white symbols on a page – can invoke such feelings. I think that’s why I love music so much and can get lost for hours in the lyrics and melodies of songs.
I write poetry, then take that poetry and carefully break it up so it will work in a book.
My first book, A Girl with A Cape: The True Story About the Superhero in All of Us, is a story about a little girl who wears a leopard-print scarf as a superhero cape in hopes to do something big to make the world a better place. What this little girl doesn’t realize is that she’s already doing just that. Every day, she is polite, kind, considerate. Her actions cause others to act the same way; her actions pay it forward and create a ripple-effect of kindness.
However, by the end of the week, she feels defeated. She is convinced that her scarf doesn’t work and that she’s too small to make a difference in the world.
However, her mom overhears her throwing a fit and tells her otherwise, pointing out all the amazing and kind things she’s done. Her mom makes her realize that she is the “biggest difference-maker of all” and asks her, “So now that you know that your powers are true…tell me sweet darling, what next will you do?” This book reminds us that it really is the little things that make up the big things.
That book started a series of four, including A Girl with A Pink Cape, which is a book I wrote in honor of my sister who passed away in 2014 from breast cancer. It’s about the power of spending time with someone.
And because of that book, we started a non-profit organization called the Kindness Gala Foundation (KindnessGala.com). We hold one amazing event every October where we honor, celebrate, and help support other local charities who give back to people in crisis right here in our own communities. The same way local charities helped my sister in her time of need.
I write my books because I want people to realize the power that we have in our everyday kindnesses. I want people to understand that what we choose to do matters; that WE matter. I’m tired of all the negative ways we not only treat others, but ourselves. I want people – kids AND adults – to realize that their self-worth and value does NOT come from social media, but it comes from within. I think as a society we’ve lost that. I’m just trying to bring it back. Like it says in my book, A Girl with A Pink Cape:
“So, always remember and never forget
that what we do matters, no time for regret.
Our time here is short and we grow up so fast.
It’s when we spread kindness, our legacy lasts.”
– taken from A Girl with A Pink Cape
What do you think about conditions for artists today? Has life become easier or harder for artists in recent years? What can cities like ours do to encourage and help art and artists thrive?
For artists today, it’s both easier and harder at the same time to get your creations out to the public. I wrote my first book in November of 2012, had it published and in-hand in April of 2013. Five months! Twenty years ago, that would’ve been unheard of. To date, I have five books published (four children’s books and one self-esteem book and journal -titled The Girl in The Mirror – for teens through adults) and working on several others. With all of the self-publishing options and now Create Space from Amazon, it’s pretty easy to get your work published. That’s not the big issue. The big issue is marketing. Unless you’re already a well-known, people are not going to be waiting in line to see what you put out there. You have to do the hustling.
You have to make a name for yourself. You have to be the one knocking on doors, getting rejected, knocking on more doors. And do you have passion? When people talk to me, they see I am so passionate about the message of my books and THAT’S why people need them. For me, it’s not about book sales, I mean, yes, I need my books to sell for sure, but it’s about kids realizing – ADULTS realizing – that they were born because the world KNEW they would make a difference. My books are my vehicle to do that. What are you passionate about? What does your work mean to you? To your audience? Why does someone want what YOU have instead of what this other person has? I believe the more passion you have about something, the better. Especially if it’s your personal work.
I do believe that today, it’s easier for artists to get artwork out there. However, because it IS easier to get it out there, it’s harder to set yourself apart from everyone else. The market place is loud with everyone yelling what they’re selling. I think a great thing city can do for local artists is create pop-up shops that are affordable for those just starting out. There’s a LOT of great art being created by great people, but no one knows about it because it’s expensive to rent retail space. Perhaps the world’s newest Best-Selling Author (Oooooooohhhh! Pick me! Pick me! ;-)) or most talented sought-after artist is sitting right here, right in the Chicagoland area, only the world will never know.
And me? I was just this person who loved to write and only dreamed about being a published author. Until I decided the only person who was going to make that happen – or NOT happen – was me. So, to those reading this right now, if you have something you want to put out into the world, do it. Not because you want to make a million dollars, but because you want to make an impact. And that’s worth way more than any dollar amount you can bring in.
How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
They best way for people to get my books is from our website: GotYourCape.com or AuthorAmyLogan.com. And since I would be nowhere without the awesome support from the community (most of my books are sold during school visits), I love that I get the opportunity to support local stores. My books are not sold in big box stores. You can find them at *play in Logan Square, Little Threads in Roscoe Village, Anderson’s Bookstore in Naperville, What’s New in Plainfield, Prairie Path Books in Wheaton, and several other stores throughout Chicagoland. I also do Empowerment Speaking events and share the Power of Kindness through elementary school assemblies. It takes a village, that’s for sure, and I’m just doing my part as another one of the village people (see what I did there? Hahaha!)
Contact Info:
- Website: http://Gotyourcape.com
- Phone: 815-609-6060
- Email: amy@gotyourcape.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/agirlwithacape/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AGirlWithACape/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/AuthorAmyLogan
- Other: http://authoramylogan.com
Image Credit:
Amy Logan and Friends
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